Before Wednesday I need to clear up what seven pages a day means, because the writing schedule and the posting schedule are two different things. Starting Wednesday, I’m writing seven manuscript pages of War After War every day for 30 days, around 1,750 words a day, give or take. The Author’s Room gets a report after the writing. I want you to see me build the whole work without giving the first draft away. Since these are first-draft pages from a first-time novelist, I need enough of the book on paper to see what I actually wrote before I start trying to fix all of it.
A scene I constructed with Alexander, Logan as children playing with black ants already showed me where that line is. Alexander and Logan are two of the central characters in War After War, boys who grow up as friends before the Civil War on a South Carolina plantation where Alexander is enslaved and Logan’s father owns the place. Logan is trying to kill the ants while Alexander keeps trying to save them, but then the boys start arguing. The argument reaches into something larger between them, and I’m leaving out what they say because that would give away the reason the scene matters. That part stays with the book.
Some progress reports will have an actual excerpt. Sometimes one day and sometimes two and sometimes three days back to back, I’ll paraphrase what I wrote instead. I’ll make that decision after the day’s seven pages are done, because I don’t know in advance which scenes are going to move into something I need to protect.
The first official seven-page progress report goes up Wednesday, July 29, after I finish Wednesday’s pages.
One thing I left out: the reports from these next 30 days will only be available inside the Author’s Room. There are 27 founders in there now, so there are 11 more to go before we reach 38. I chose 38 because the Union had reached 38 states as Reconstruction came to an end. Those first 38 founders will have a star and their name on a dedicated page in the published book, and each one will get an advance signed copy.
If you want to be one of the remaining 11, join the Author’s Room below.
I used “38 states” because Colorado became the 38th state in 1876, while Reconstruction is conventionally dated through 1877. U.S. Senate, National Park Service.
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